Global Executives’ Perspective on the 2024 Retail Landscape

Announcing the release of the second edition of our Global Executive Research Whitepaper

Our latest global publication captures the year’s unique retail challenges and opportunities from the point of view of global retail executives. Co-published by our international Ebeltoft alliance and the World Retail Congress, this second edition expands upon insights gathered from previous executive research. The 2024 report was released in tandem with the Congress held in Paris late last month around the theme of becoming a world-class retailer.

The publication delves into various timely themes, such as artificial intelligence (AI) adoption, the state of labor, sustainability, omnichannel, and more. The findings reflect current sentiment from more than 100 retail executives in the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. Download your complimentary copy of the research here.  

Key findings captured in this year’s report:

• Global executives exhibit an overarching optimism toward the 5-year business outlook, but there is mixed sentiment toward the immediate retail environment in 2024.
• Retail faces persisting labor challenges at the store level and head office, making this a top challenge for executives in 2024.
• The implementation of AI, both in consumer-facing entities and back-end processes, ranks as a top priority for retailers. However, talent shortages, time constraints, and investment limitations present significant barriers.
• Retail executives are continuing to prioritize sustainability and recognize potential for improvement through implementing circularity efforts and partnering with ESG-compliant organizations.

Physical brick-and-mortar stores are considered to have the highest commercial relevance for businesses. Retail executives rank online stores and online marketplaces/ platforms as second and third in relevance.

To dive deeper into the findings or to schedule a presentation of the results with our team, get in touch with us. Access our past publications here and stay tuned for the release of our upcoming Ebeltoft-wide whitepaper around global marketplaces.

About Ebeltoft Group

Ebeltoft Group is a consortium of international retail consultancies of which we are a founding member. Q&A Insights and Consultancy is our Dutch partner member and leader of Ebeltoft Group x WRC annual publication.

About World Retail Congress

Since 2007, World Retail Congress has been the premier platform for in-depth research, content and events; driving retail growth and inspiring valuable global connections.